MINSK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th July, 2020) The head of the Belarusian Central Election Commission, Lidia Yermoshina, expressed the belief, in her comment for Sputnik, that authorities would later invite the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) to monitor the presidential election, and that the office would make a decision "on merits."
Earlier in the day, OSCE/ODIHR said it would not send a monitoring mission to the Belarusian presidential election, scheduled for August 9, as it had not received an invitation.
"I think that there will be an invitation. The Foreign Ministry is in charge of sending invitations to international organizations. The head of state has preliminarily resolved this issue, ensuring that international monitors will be notified after [presidential] candidates registration, so I remain optimistic. If an invitation is sent, I think they will focus on this question again, this time on the merits," Yermoshina said.
